1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to an improved system for producing electricity by using energy from water. More particularly, the present invention relates to an improved system in which electricity is generated by a paddle wheel connected to a generator.
2. Description of Prior Art
The desire to produce energy from flowing water in a river, tides, or the like, dates back well over 100 years. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 163,451, to Buckner, et al, issued in 1875, discloses a system to produce power from waves that includes a buoy actuated by the rise and fall of waves provided within guide rods that operate within six (6) socket plates, and adjustable racks for engaging the roof pinions, pawls and racket wheels. The rise and fall of the buoy with the wave action serves to rotate the gears to produce energy. U.S. Pat. No. 537,398, to Wilde, issued in 1895, describes a tidal power device in which incoming tidal water passes through a water wheel to a storage reservoir, releasing the water from the storage reservoir past the water wheel to transmit power from the wheel to a pulley and then to a dynamo. The end of the water wheel is connected to a circular rack which engages a gear and is adapted to move vertically by having its lower end journaled in a box mounted on the protruding end of an axle to transmit motion from a pulley to a dynamo or other suitable machine by a belt connection or any other suitable manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 651,454, to Wilkinson describes a motor which utilizes the ebb and flow of the tide to supply energy, having a combination of a high and low tide reservoir, each having an outlet and inlet channel, connecting the reservoir to the main body of water subject to the action of the tide. There is a water wheel in a channel leading from each of the reservoirs, which is adapted to be operated on during certain periods of the day by the water flowing into the low tide reservoir from the main body of water, and the other wheel adapted to operated during certain periods of time by the water flowing out of the high tide reservoir, and means to utilize the power generated by each water wheel, at times co-jointly, and at other times separately. On the shaft of each water wheel is a gear wheel working in mesh with another gear wheel mounted on another shaft to coordinate the two wheels. A power pulley is used to transfer the energy from the water wheels. U.S. Pat. No. 946,585, to Smith discloses an electrical generating system having two water wheels operating in parallel using the flow of water as motive power to turn pulleys with belts extending over other guide pulleys into a mill or power house. U.S. Pat. No. 1,333,443, to Rennolds shows a series of water wheels (one behind the other in a raceway). The series of wheels is geared to a common driving shaft and there are provisions whereby the wheels will turn one way when the tide is coming in, and in the opposite direction when the tide is going out, and will give a reasonably constant motion to the power shaft to which the wheels are connected.
Boats, in general, either lack electricity-generating means or only have such means when a gasoline engine is used to operate a generator. However, even when a gasoline engine is present on the craft, there are situations in which its use is either not convenient or impractical. Thus, it would be desirable to have a power-generating means which could keep a battery charged while a craft is in motion or at anchor in a current. Such a power-generating means would not only keep batteries charged but could also provide a continuous current when an electric motor is used to propel the boat and when other electrical apparatus on the craft are used.
Propeller operated generators on motor driven craft are known in the art, but they are not desirable because they are fixed and in a position which would increase the drag of the boat excessively, or because they are dependent on a rather high-speed craft for their utility. Some such power generating devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,898,973 to Lansing and U.S. Pat. No. 903,592 to Low, wherein a boat is driven by a central, stern-mounted, outboard motor with a submerged generator located off to one side, or in the keel area under the water line. In Low the hydroelectric impeller, or propeller, is located centrally of the stern of the boat, to remain submerged even during tilt of the boat, but the generator is above water level rather than being submerged.